The 500 best books of all time from Culture Café users

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Culture Café, 498 Books

In October 2008, the Culture Café site asked Internet users to vote for their ten favorite books. After collecting 5,000 votes and listing more than 3,000 titles, here are the results of the 500 best chosen by Internet users of the site

Details on the method and classification

- A list of ten books was requested from Internet users, in order of preference of their favorite works (all genres, nationalities, and dates of publication). The votes were anonymous.
- Only the rankings containing the ten titles were counted. The votes containing fewer were automatically deleted by the software.
- The book arriving first in each ranking was awarded ten points, the second nine points, etc.
- The series of novels (Harry Potter, Dune, etc.) have been counted under the generic name of the complete series"

This list was originally published in 2008 and was added to this site over 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
164 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
14074 Pilgrim Timothy Findley 1999 Canadian English
4581 Papillon Henri Charrière 1969 French French
6646 Exquisite Corpse Poppy Z. Brite 1996 American English
12024 The Amulet of Samarkand Jonathan Stroud 2003 British English
79 As I Lay Dying William Faulkner 1930 American English
2333 The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault Charles Perrault 1697 French French
6845 For Those I Loved Martin Gray 1971 French French
43 Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner 1936 American English
14105 The Character Of Rain Amélie Nothomb 2000 Belgian French
6314 Every Man Dies Alone Hans Fallada 1947 German German
893 Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 American, Canadian English
1186 Tristan Gottfried von Strassburg 1210 German Middle high german
1688 Carrie Stephen King 1974 American English
239 Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller 1934 American English
52 Lord of the Flies William Golding 1954 British English
744 Moscow to the End of the Line Venedikt Yerofeev 1970 Russian Russian
14449 Q & A Vikas Swarup 2005 Indian English
6205 The Earth Émile Zola 1887 French French
39 Frankenstein Mary Shelley 1818 British English
101 Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish French
1004 2001 Arthur C. Clarke 1968 British English
11407 Big Sur Jack Kerouac 1962 American English
14400 Bye Bye Blondie Virginie Despentes 2004 French French
365 Eugene Onegin Alexander Pushkin 1833 Russian Russian
616 The Rebel Albert Camus 1951 French French
14106 L'éducation D'une Fée Didier van Cauwelaert 2000 French French
12816 Flanagan's Run Tom McNab 1982 British English
11238 The Horla Guy de Maupassant 1887 French French
1835 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991 Norwegian Norwegian
13788 Le Passeur De Lumière Bernard Tirtiaux 1993 French French
3450 The Satin Slipper Paul Claudel 1929 French French
700 Tales of the City Armistead Maupin 1978 American English
354 Hopscotch Julio Cortazar 1963 Argentinian Spanish
2189 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
13789 Ocean Sea Alessandro Baricco 1993 Italian Italian
1314 Under Satan's Sun Georges Bernanos 1926 French French
424 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
9912 Women Charles Bukowski 1978 American English
447 Gypsy Ballads Federico García Lorca 1928 Spanish Spanish
619 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles 1949 American English
2209 Trainspotting Irvine Welsh 1993 Scottish English
2582 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
13316 Who Will Remember The People... Jean Raspail 1986 French French
303 Peter And Wendy J. M. Barrie 1911 Scottish English
11243 Nuptials Albert Camus 1938 Algerian French
11244 L'huile Sur Le Feu Hervé Bazin 1954 French French
3111 Leviathan Paul Auster 1992 American English
5686 Big Blondes Jean Echenoz 1995 French French
2964 The Erasers Alain Robbe-Grillet 1953 French French
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
3420 In The Country Of Last Things Paul Auster 1987 American English
11410 The Island Robert Merle 1962 French French
65 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift 1726 British English
1902 The Physician Noah Gordon 1986 American English
2292 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
436 El Aleph Jorge Luis Borges 1949 Argentinian Spanish
1085 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 Australian English
4451 The Eye Of The World Robert Jordan 1990 American English
14058 The Case Of Dr Sachs Martin Winckler 1998 French French
14402 La Ligne Noire Jean-Christophe Grangé 2004 French French
11246 Liberty Or Love! Robert Desnos 1929 French French
1868 Junky William S. Burroughs 1953 American English
1255 Jonathan Livingston Seagull Richard Bach 1970 American English
11025 Jerome Jean-Pierre Martinet 1978 French French
527 The Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1762 French French
112 Doctor Zhivago Boris Pasternak 1957 Russian Russian
1928 Ten Days That Shook the World John Reed 1919 American English
4506 Different Seasons Stephen King 1982 American English
1453 The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury 1950 American English
2579 Les Contemplations Victor Hugo 1856 French French
1829 To The Friend Who Did Not Save My Life Hervé Guibert 1990 French French
262 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 2001 German German
904 Breakfast of Champions Kurt Vonnegut 1973 American English
1377 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 1964 British English
962 The Diary of a Country Priest Georges Bernanos 1936 French French
10090 Assassin's Apprentice Robin Hobb 1995 American English
11569 The Swallower Swallowed Réjean Ducharme 1966 Canadian French
194 Oblomov Ivan Goncharov 1859 Russian Russian
13791 The Lovers Alice Ferney 1993 French French
2814 La Débâcle Émile Zola 1892 French French
9004 Little Fadette George Sand 1849 French French
650 The Flanders Road Claude Simon 1960 French French
5577 VALIS Philip K. Dick 1981 American English
9168 84, Charing Cross Road Helene Hanff 1970 American English
2482 Mangeclous Albert Cohen 1938 French French
1607 Pan Knut Hamsun 1894 Norwegian Norwegian
5663 The Evolution Man Or How I Ate My Father Roy Lewis 1960 British English
9516 A Scanner Darkly Philip K. Dick 1977 American English
926 Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne 1864 French French
2426 Platform Michel Houellebecq 2001 French French
2051 Palace Walk Naguib Mahfouz 1956 Egyptian Arabic
49 Beloved Toni Morrison 1987 American English
1375 The Sea of Fertility Yukio Mishima 1965 Japanese Japanese
7576 The Toilers Of The Sea Victor Hugo 1866 French French
929 Our Lady of the Flowers Jean Genet 1943 French French
3378 Zadig Voltaire 1747 French French
2865 Endgame Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish French
459 The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells 1896 British English
11250 The Island Of Slaves Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux 1725 French French
403 The Words Jean Paul Sartre 1963 French French
3612 The Life Of Marianne Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux 1731 French French
7831 The Blue Flowers Raymond Queneau 1965 French French
5115 Le Lion Joseph Kessel 1958 French French
2296 My Father's Glory Marcel Pagnol 1957 French French
836 Second Thoughts Michel Butor 1957 French French
372 War of the Worlds H. G. Wells 1898 British English
2900 City Clifford D. Simak 1952 American English
9731 Gagner La Guerre Jean-Philippe Jaworski 2009 French French
11252 Queen Margot Alexandre Dumas 1845 French French
2030 Nobody's Boy Hector Malot 1878 French French
4986 Sophie's Misfortunes Countess of Ségur. 1858 French French
1046 Justine Marquis de Sade 1791 French French
1409 No Exit Jean Paul Sartre 1944 French French
11253 The Man Who Walked Through Walls Marcel Aymé 1943 French French
1644 The Nature of Things Francis Ponge 1942 French French
1498 A King Alone Jean Giono 1947 French French
106 Oedipus the King Sophocles -429 Greek Ancient greek
11254 Tiger At The Gates Jean Giraudoux 1935 French French
1606 White Fang Jack London 1906 American English